There's a newfound sense of poignancy that overrides much of Mississauga's patchwork nihilism.

Those who really love Frank Black and Black Francis' songs, as opposed to just their sound, will enjoy eavesdropping on him playing around with his work.

Love Songs for Patriots isn't an American Music Club masterpiece in the manner of Everclear or Mercury, but it's certainly a stronger and more coherent effort than the group's last set.

Mos Def's second solo album is not disastrous, but it's a sprawling, overambitious mess.

Camper Van Beethoven have pulled off the difficult trick of not only reuniting, but picking up exactly where they had left off.

Summer in Abaddon is an album of small, but hardly insignificant pleasures, and it may be Pinback's finest work yet.

From its aggressive metal and hardcore overtones to lyrics that rail against societal ignorance and a world gone wrong, Chuck is a few steps ahead of the smirking, jocular anthems that populated Sum 41's previous output.

At its best sounds like a suicidal combination of Blur and the Divine Comedy.

These brittle, next-wave-of-new-wave productions plow no new ground and barely serve the lyrics to which they're chained.

This is the folky, bluesy, jangly-guitar-slinging sound of somebody who has made a practice of walking in boots three sizes too big for so long that they finally fit, and it delivers enough promise to inspire big ideas about what could happen when he outgrows them.

Palookaville could stand one more trimming pass, but it gives Cook's canon the needed depth.

R.E.M. have never seemed as directionless.

By far the most engaging album yet from Mono, Walking Cloud proves that the band is an entity unto itself.

Adopts a fuller, more polished sound than her earlier work, but her songwriting is just as innocent and heartfelt-sounding as ever.

References to fungus and food abound, but wrapped in the wooly blankets of Rawlings' signature picking and Welch's winsome harmonies, they take on a fireplace warmth that renders them amiably nostalgic rather than blatantly surreal.

It isn't necessarily memorable, but as an exercise in measured, even artistic rage, it's classic Hamilton.

Real Gone is another provocative moment for Waits, one that has problems, but then, all his records do.

It may not be an album that's as funny or timeless as The Transformed Man, but Has Been is every bit as bizarre.

[A] majestic soundscape.

Ray Ray occasionally loses focus, slipping into moments that are either undercooked or worthy of the cutting room, but it's enjoyable enough to keep his followers happy and will certainly act as a remedy for those who don't like the gold-bricked path being taken by mainstream R&B.

Without a concept to tout, The Grind Date doesn't gel like AOI: Bionix, but it does show De La Soul keeping everything together more than 15 years after their debut.

Even when there are plenty of other bands working in a similar style, Q and Not U remain more distinctive and harder to classify than many of their peers, which makes Power an exciting album and proof that the band has variety and vitality to spare.

For all their well-crafted ambition on Chronicles, "I Just Wanna Live" feels like Good Charlotte's centerpiece, since it's spiked with rock power, but gets its soul from the pop life they lead.

Smart, subtly subversive, and always catchy - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Burned Mind isn't just Wolf Eyes' most cohesive album, it's also their most accessible.

Though its heart is eventually lost amidst the guiding elements of the genre, the Used's In Love and Death does make some impressive moves away from those very same tenets, showing some welcome restraint and even some rocktastic energy.

She may not yet have the set of skills, or the experience, to give a nuanced, textured performance -- one that feels truly lived-in, not just sung -- but she's a compelling singer and Mind, Body & Soul lives up to her promise.

Their best record in years.